Stuck with it!

Bear with...a bit War & PeaceJuly 2012 – Customer ordered Plusnet broadband and home phone on line. Existing supplier for both is O2.Plusnet informed customer that broadband switch would be 11/08/12, phone switch would be 24/08/12. It looks like the broadband switch actually took place on the 10th (please see email extract from O2 17/08 below).10/08/12 – No dial tone on home phone from arriving home at around 5pm. Broadband active until approx 5:30pm. O2 modem still plugged in. Customer informed Plusnet and o2 of these issues, on personal mobile phone PAYG. As O2 were still phone provider they were tasked to contact BT openreach but customer told this wouldn’t happen until 13/8. 11/08 – Customer notified of switch of broadband to Plusnet. Installed Plusnet modem/router but still no dial tone / broadband.15/08- Call from engineer (presumably BT organised by o2 but unsure of this) on mobile to request removal of all equipment connected to all phone sockets in house before test was undertaken. This was done, but still no dial tone/broadband when reconnecting equipment. O2 arranged for BT engineer to visit 8am to 1pm 17/08.17/08 – 2 people at home 17/08 to ensure no recharge from BT. 1:10pm call from customer to O2 to request why no visit from BT as arranged and notified? O2 ‘investigated’ and called customer back to say that they were running late but were on their way. Customer requested ETA and was told approx 20 mins. 3pm and still no visit from BT engineer. Customer called O2 and was routed through to different office (Glasgow) and spent over 2 hrs speaking to support technician who was unhappy with inconsistent reports on file and investigated. This is his reply:Hi Andy,

What has happened? your phone line is not working.

O2 can not raise this as a no dial tone fault as there is a an open cease order on the line, (open reach only allow 1 open order on there system any point in time)

Potential Fixes

Ask plusnet if they can raise it as a broadband fault either a DOA or a no sync.

Your broadband order cancelled with O2 on 10/08/2012 17:09:08

This is when you lost your landline service, I think the engineer has accidentally disconnected it.

O2 have never explained why the BT engineer never turned up, but that is an issue I have with O2.

I phoned Plusnet and relayed this message but was told raising the Broadband fault wasn’t possible. Further calls to Plusnet to request bringing the phone changeover date forward from the 24th were made, and to inform that we still had no dial tone. 24/08 – Customer picked up email (from work) informing of phone switch haven taken place. Still no dial tone so BT engineer appointment was made for following morning slot.25/08 – BT engineer arrived approx 10:30. Test on line found no supply from nearest BT pole, which had the line feeding to the house. Engineer went to BT street junction cabinet to investigate and returned to confirm problem must be at exchange. He explained that he wasn’t accredited to work at the exchange and would have to report the fault in. Before he left, he changed the primary socket in the house.27/08 – Unexpected call from a BT engineer to customer’s mobile asking if I still had a problem with the phone line. I explained that an engineer arrived on a pre booked visit on 25/08, identified that the fault originated at the exchange but had to report it through as he wasn’t accredited to work there. I hadn’t received notification that the fault should have been cleared. I checked our phone as requested and found no dial tone. The engineer said he would visit the street junction box and investigate further.When he arrived at the house and kept complaining that he had been sent on ‘a wild goose chase’. I asked him if the fault had been confirmed and rectified at the exchange, but the stock reply was that he wasn’t interested in what had happened, it was the current situation that mattered. He tested the line at the primary box and said we should have a line in and there must be an internal wiring issue. Our cordless phone base and modem are not connected to the primary box as we don’t have a mains supply near there. The modem adsl in cable was removed on the engineer’s suggestion and the engineer found a dial tone at the primary phone socket, but no dial tone at the socket with our equipment. The engineer looked at the primary socket and found that the BT engineer that replaced the box on 25/08 had not reconnected the wiring to feed the other sockets within the house. The engineer present reconnected the wiring and we had a dial tone from our phone, but this disconnected if the modem was connected.The engineer then verified that we had multiple faults. Firstly the exchange, secondly the incomplete reconnection of the replacement primary phone socket box and thirdly the fault when connecting the Plusnet modem.---------------Plusnet have now charged me from the 10th August, for a service I didn't receive, despite verbal assurances it wouldn't happen. They blame O2 for cutting off the service. They also say it wasn't reported until the 24th Aug. Not true, as several calls via my mobile will testify. They won't budge on payment. O2 say it was the BT engineer disconnecting the phone line at the plusnet broadband switch. BT openreach get away with it again. The customer doesn't.

Re: Stuck with it!

Hi brookers,Thank you for taking your time to post this.Sorry to see that you have had to go-to such lengths of contacting us to try and get this resolved.Unfortunately faults and mistakes can happen, but it is how we resolve/rectify these situations. I will happily refund for the time you have been without service as this was through no fault of your own.I can see that your line is stable at the moment, you mentioned that you were having disconnections, is this still the case.I have raised a ticket on your account regarding this thread.If you have any questions or issues, please let me know.Chris

Re: Stuck with it!

Chris, you've been incredibly helpful. The purpose of my rant was to highlight to other newbies, like mysel,f of the potential situation where broadband and phone switching dates are a distance apart, and the perils of the BT Openreach system of fault rectifying if something goes awry at the exchange, with third party ISPs apparently powerless to act until new ownership of the customer's service. If O2 are being honest, then BT, instead of putting their hands up and admit they made a mistake at the exchange, appear to not give a fig and slope their shoulders in another direction.